A majority of the motor vehicles on the road today operate via gasoline fuel systems provided by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Per recent estimates, there are approximately 253 million motor vehicles on roads in the United States. With the expected increases in population and urbanization, this number is only expected to grow further, thereby increasing the output of harmful emissions and increased consumption of gasoline made from crude oil.
As motor vehicles have become increasingly popular, alternative fuel sources have been considered so as to have a lower impact on the environment. One alternative fuel source is natural gas. Natural Gas is a fossil fuel that exists in a gaseous state and is composed mainly of methane (CH4) and a small percentage of other hydrocarbons (e.g. ethane). Natural gas may come in either compressed natural gas (CNG) form, or as liquid natural gas (LNG). CNG is a readily available alternative to gasoline that is made by compressing natural gas to less than 1% of its volume at standard atmospheric pressure. Consisting mostly of methane, CNG is odorless, colorless and tasteless. The use of natural gas is becoming increasingly popular as it may be used with commercial, industrial, electric power generation and residential applications. Various schools, hospitals, hotels, motels, restaurants, office buildings also use natural gas for cooking and water and space heating.
The advantages of using natural gas are well documented. For example, as compared to petroleum or coal, natural gas causes less damage to the environment. Since natural gas is comprised of methane, it results in lower carbon emissions. In fact, emissions of carbon dioxide are 45% less than other conventional fuels and 30% less than oil. Furthermore, when used for fueling a motor vehicle, natural gas is generally cheaper as compared to diesel or gasoline. Natural gas is also relatively abundant as compared to other fossil fuels, and easier to distribute.
Due to its benefits, operators of motor vehicles may find it desirable to use natural gas as compared to gasoline. Unfortunately, one cannot simply use natural gas if their vehicle is configured to accept gasoline. As will be appreciated, fueling stations for gasoline and compressed natural gas are quite different, as each station is configured to couple with a gasoline fuel system or a compressed natural gas fuel system, respectively. Indeed, attempting to use compressed natural gas with a gasoline fuel system, or gasoline with a compressed natural gas system would cause significant injury to the user and their vehicle.
What is needed, therefore, is a fuel system that substitutes the conventional fuel system of a motor vehicle that is simple to install onto a wide variety of makes and models, so as to help motor vehicle owners reduce emissions and fuel costs.
While the present disclosure is subject to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. The invention should be understood to not be limited to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.